Favorable votes tonight, tomorrow could lead to completion in 16 months

Dec. 10, 2013

A rendering of the ballpark at the historic Sulphur Dell site. / Submitted

Written by

Michael Cass

The Tennessean

Ballpark deal at a glance

LocationNorth of downtown, between Jackson and Harrison streets and between Third and Fifth avenues

Projected opening dateApril 2015

Size8,500 fixed seats, with room for another 1,500 fans

Ownership/managementMetro government would own the ballpark and lease it to the Sounds for 30 years. The Triple A baseball franchise would operate and manage the facility and be responsible for maintenance costs. The Sounds would get to keep revenue “generated through ticket sales, broadcasts, advertising and the like,” according to a summary of the lease terms. Metro would be responsible for capital expenses “necessary to keep the ballpark in good condition,” such as roof and seat replacements.

Cost• $37 million for the ballpark itself • $23 million for land acquisition • $5 million for capitalized interest during construction

If costs exceeded those amounts, the city would be responsible but could try to find savings within the project.

FinancingMetro would build the ballpark. Debt service on the $65 million bond issue would cost $4.3 million a year for 30 years. The city would pay the debt with:

• $700,000 the Sounds would pay each year to lease the stadium. • $650,000 a year in sales tax revenue generated by the facility. • $750,000 in annual property tax revenue from a $60 million residential and commercial development the Sounds’ owners plan to build nearby, although they aren’t contractually obligated to do so. • $675,000 in annual property tax revenue from another developer’s planned $37 million apartment development nearby, although that developer, Embrey, also is not contractually obligated to build. • $520,000 a year in existing tax-increment financing, a tool that uses the growth in property tax revenues from selected developments to pay off debt that was used to subsidize them. • $250,000 that Metro now puts into the Sounds’ existing facility, Greer Stadium, each year as part of the city’s budget. • $410,000 that Metro now pays the state annually to lease property for the Nashville School of the Arts (the city is buying that property). • $345,000 a year in new expenses for Metro.

What happens to Greer StadiumThere are no firm plans yet for the city-owned ballpark that opened south of downtown in 1978 on part of the historic Fort Negley property. Metro officials have talked about an amateur baseball facility or a place for Civil War re-enactments. Community members have mentioned a mixed-use development, an information technology corridor, a museum or a tie-in to an arts district that has developed in the area.

The Metro Council is poised to give the go-ahead to construction of a new ballpark for the Nashville Sounds tonight, setting the stage for the minor league baseball team to start playing in a new home in 16 months.

Pending approval by the council and a final vote by the Metro Sports Authority on Wednesday, the city will go to market and sell $65 million worth of municipal revenue bonds later this week, Metro Finance Director Rich Riebeling said Monday. A construction manager could be on board by Jan. 1.

The council voted 28-7 for the proposed bond issue on the second reading of the legislation last week. As the final votes approach, government documents and questions raised by taxpayers and council members are helping to answer a few more questions about the ballpark project.

Other events

Riebeling, a top aide to Mayor Karl Dean, said the proposed lease between Metro, which would build and own the stadium, and the Sounds, who would manage and operate it, initially envisioned a cap on the number of days for non-baseball use. But the parties recently agreed to remove that limit.

“The Sounds want this thing to be used,” Riebeling said.

He said the ballpark would be available to other organizations with 60 days’ notice as long as events don’t interfere with the baseball schedule. The Sounds would charge those groups so that the baseball organization could cover its costs, but Metro would be able to use the taxpayer-funded facility for free.

Riebeling cautioned that the facility wouldn’t be opening up constantly during the non-baseball months due to the costs associated with getting a ballpark ready for public use.

“But the whole goal is to not throw up artificial barriers,” he said.

Parking

As part of the deal, Metro, which is acquiring land from the state for the ballpark site, would pay $18 million for a new 1,000-space parking garage for state employees near Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park. Kelly Smith, a spokeswoman for the state Department of General Services, said state employees accustomed to parking in lots in the same area would still be able to park free on weekdays.

The Sounds would control the garage during their games and other events at the ballpark and would keep the parking revenue from those activities. The Sounds charge $5 for parking at their current home, Greer Stadium, but team spokesman Doug Scopel said it was “still too early in the process for specific details on parking plans” at the proposed stadium.

The garage lease being worked out between Metro and the state would limit other use by the city and the Sounds to 20 non-baseball events per year unless the state were to provide written permission for more. Those events could only be held on Saturdays, Sundays, state holidays or after 7:30 p.m. on weekdays, the lease document says.

People attending events for which the garage wasn’t available would have to find other places to park, Riebeling said.

Local jobs

Once construction starts — presumably in the first few months of 2014 — council members want to see Nashville residents getting the jobs.

Ethan Link, program director with the Laborers’ International Union of North America’s Southeast Laborers’ District Council, said 23 of the 40 council members had signed a letter to Mayor Dean by late Monday afternoon, and a few more are still expected to sign.

“The enormous potential for economic growth spurred by the proposed development is clear, and the most immediate impact will be the jobs created by the construction of the new Sounds ballpark,” the letter says. “Like other Metro projects, the construction jobs will be an early indicator of the success and return on investment to local tax-paying residents.”

Riebeling and Jon Cooper, the council’s attorney, said the law prohibits requiring that a certain number jobs go to local residents. But Riebeling said the local workforce development programs that were put in place for the Music City Center construction project — which were criticized by some local unions — would be used again.

Councilman Anthony Davis said he’d like to see the ballpark project “set some kind of precedent for future capital projects.”

“I think this will be a test if we do keep our labor here and good-paying jobs on the ground,” Davis said. “This will be the first test of that.”

Contact Michael Cass at 615-259-8838 or mcass@tennessean.com. Ask him a question on Twitter @tnmetro.